The ESMAs are the Equestrian Social Media Awards, and yesterday I was getting my videos sorted out….thus the delay in the usual Monday Morning Quickie blog post – my apologies! But the good news is that I’ve now discovered DropBox, since I had to upload large video clips to incorporate into the ESMA awards program.

At this point I’m still just an ESMA finalist (in the Best Use of Twitter category), and each finalist had to submit TWO videos – one in the event you won your category, and one as a finalist-not-winner; the ESMA organizers are going to incorporate videos into an online ‘awards show’ that will be launched later in March. Email isn’t a good method for sharing these types of video clips (mine were over 170 MB each, even though they were only a minute long!), and snail mail also wasn’t good since I’d be sending a DVD ‘across the pond’ to the ESMA HQ. So, they requested I share the files with them via Dropbox.

What is Dropbox? It’s a secure online file sharing and syncing service, with options for either free (up to 2 GB) or paid (50 or 100 GB) subscriptions. Upload your files to your Dropbox account, and you can then invite someone to view any file by adding in their email address for access.

Dropbox can be accessed on your computer desktop, or via an online login. There’s a small learning curve involved, but the initial download was extremely quick, easy, and automatic (I have a Mac, not sure if it’s the same on a PC but I imagine it might be). All kinds of files can be shared, from Word documents to video clips.

It also has a ‘event’ feature that shows you the history on the account, such as when you uploaded or deleted files, and when someone joined a shared folder to access a file, or if they invited someone else to view it. If you invite others to join Dropbox and they do so, the site even gives you additional storage!

The Dropbox blog is interesting, since some recent posts show they’re focused on fun and innovation as part of their business model: Over 200,000 people participated in the first-ever Dropquest, an online scavenger hunt, and their first annual Hack Week resulted in some new and innovative ideas for future Dropbox service offerings.

As for how horsebiz folks might use Dropbox:

Uploading video clips for students, since it offers a controlled, private viewing option (not like YouTube, which is public access)

Do you have ideas for how you might use Dropbox in your own horsebiz? Share them via the Leave a Comment button below. And, if you want to sign up for your own Dropbox account, let me know via the Leave a Comment button – I’ll send you an invite! We both get additional space by doing so…I got an extra 250MB from the invite that Liam sent to me.

Nice post, Lisa. Dropbox is a great tool. I’ve had a few issues with people getting started with it on the other end, but that could easily be user error. Another similar tool is YouSendIt. It also has a free plan, but not nearly as big as Dropbox’s. I’ve used both to send videos, photos, and documents to clients and myself. It’s a nice way to have a virtual hard drive on the road. It’s like having an inexpensive insurance plan against lost luggage, corrupt files, etc. There are also apps to use on your mobile devices.

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